August 10, 2007

The Virginia Department of
Education (VDOE), Office of Career and Technical Education Services, is pleased
to sponsor another round of teacher-training academies to prepare career and
technical education teachers for selected industry certification
examinations.Testing options for the
specific industry certification will be available as a part of each academy.

These industry certifications have been approved by the
Board of Education for the student-selected verified credit option.The career and technical education teacher
and/or the career and technical education programs must be certified by the
issuing organization relative to the industry certification or license before
their students can be eligible for the student-selected verified credit.

Training will be offered
both online and in on-site academies.The virtual online academies continue to be offered in selected
certification areas.The academies, which
offer any time/any day course content access, may be an attractive training
option for teachers wanting to do self-study using the Internet.Currently, the virtual online academies
feature training for Internet Core Computing Certification (IC3),
Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), and
Network+ CompTIA certifications.

Industry
certification training (or testing) academies for September-November 2007 are
listed on the attached registration form.Registration information should be returned
by September 15, 2007.Enrollment
confirmation, information about academy times, directions, and preparation
materials will be sent directly to participants.

Registration for all
academies will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.A waiting list will be maintained for each
academy and will be used to give first priority when enrolling participants in
the next round of training academies.Persons who registered for a previous academy and were put on a waiting
list (to be given priority for the next schedule of academies) must register
again to indicate they still want to attend a particular training academy.The location of an academy also may differ
from the previous schedule.

For all industry certification academies, the VDOE
will reimburse participants for mileage expenditures at 48.5 cents per
mile.Expenditures will be reimbursed
for either daily commuting mileage to an academy or, if staying
overnight, one round trip to a training academy.School divisions will be reimbursed for
substitute pay for each day their teachers attend training academies.Overnight lodging and meals will not
be reimbursed for training academy participants for any event.

All training academies will be
tuition free to career and technical education teachers who include preparation
for the specific industry certification in their course or course sequence and
who use the industry certification as an option for their students to earn
student-selected verified credit.

Teachers attending instructor-led training academies
must test on-site or, if exam vouchers are provided, within 30 days of training
at a test-out site.Teachers enrolling
in virtual online academies must participate in preparation and examination
testing between the dates indicated for the specific academy session.

Attachment A contains the registration form.For
further information about industry certification training academies, contact
the coordinator listed on the registration form for specific training
academies, or a career and technical education program specialist.For information about a specific industry
certification, contact Gordon Creasy, specialist for industry certification and
licensure, Office of Career and Technical Education, via telephone at (804)
225-2057 or via e-mail at Gordon.Creasy@doe.virginia.gov.